National collection for World Meeting of Families takes place this weekend

Pope Francis has chosen Ireland to host the 9th World Meeting of Families during 2018. The dates and theme of the Meeting will be announced by Pope Francis himself. The Meeting of Families is expected to attract thousands of Catholic families from around the globe to Ireland.

Hosting a global event of this size requires a huge amount of planning and financial outlay on behalf of the host country. Accordingly, the Irish bishops have now established a National Finance Committee to provide advice on the financial planning for the World Meeting of Families in Ireland. There will be three national collections to support the hosting of the event, the first of which will take place this weekend, 28 and 29 May. The remaining collections will take place in 2017 and 2018.

The World Meeting of Families was a pastoral initiative of Saint John Paul II. Held every three years, and coordinated by the Pontifical Council for the Family, it is the largest universal gathering of Catholic families and brings together families from all over the world in faith and celebration.

The theme of the family is central to the ministry of Pope Francis.Shortly after his election, Pope Francis began a process of reflection within the Church across the world on the family. He announced the holding of two sessions of the Synod of Bishops: one on the situation of families across the world and the other on how to respond to the challenges facing family life. Pope Francis recently published a wide-ranging document as a fruit of that process, entitled Amoris Laetitia, on love in the family.